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Could a Dana 80 and a 14-bolt be combined?

mountainexplorer

mountainexplorer

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Say someone had a Dana 80 rear center section, with the axle tubes cut off.

Would it be feasible to weld 14-bolt Full Floater tubes to the center section?
 
The axle tubes are pressed in then spot welded through a hole in the center section. They must be straight as well all the way to the wheel bearings. You can machine pucks for the ends before final welding.


Don't know if it's feasable but I want to see what it's going on...
 
what the

what kind of hp are you feeding the rear to need a 80? plus 14 bolt ff are much easyer to work on. i helped a guy swap gears and carrier on a 80 in a 01 dodge what a nightmar.... the pionon nut is 450-550 ft-lb hell of a time.and used a semi lug nut wrench to get a big enof tourqe spec reeding.
 
a guy in my 4wd club runs a disk brake dana 80 rear out of a motorhome (wide 6 lug rockwell like pattern), and it is way overkill. he has went through 2 pinion yokes (2 1480's) but thats it. his is 35 spline but some were 37 spline. i know the 14ff hangs down, but the 80 is huge, just wondering, what are you putting together?
 
I just am considering getting a Dana 80 center section that has 5.13 gears and a Detroit. Price is decent, but it's just the center section and gears. The bottom is shaved some for clearance.

I'm considering all kinds of options. It's for my '81 "Big Crew Cab" project that will have 44's under it. I'm too cheap to buy new 14 Bolt 5.13 gears and a locker, unless I find a cheap used deal.

The Dana 80 has the gears and locker and it's shaved. Just the tubes are cut off.
 
Doing a front might be a bit more of a chore than I can handle. Everything I do, I pretty much have to do with a Crescent wrench around here. No welder, no torch, no grinder, no 11/16 open end wrench (Its the only size Im missing), no heat in the garage, and no room in the garage to even work.

I have contacts though for getting stuff welded. If I could graft in 14 Bolt stuff, then I could get that done.
 
Are they the same Diameter? Only thing is, I have 14-bolt housings, but no 70's laying around. I do have the rear end under a '72 Open Road motorhome, but it's an Eaton. My '79 Motorhome has a Dana 70 rear with 4.56 gears... but I'm not going to be robbing parts off it.
 
mountainexplorer said:
Doing a front might be a bit more of a chore than I can handle. Everything I do, I pretty much have to do with a Crescent wrench around here. No welder, no torch, no grinder, no 11/16 open end wrench (Its the only size Im missing), no heat in the garage, and no room in the garage to even work.

I have contacts though for getting stuff welded. If I could graft in 14 Bolt stuff, then I could get that done.
Click to expand...

Well, on Chebbies, you only need a 9/16" socket and wrench ... but how the heck do you do anything without a grinder, at least ... wow. You are a crazy crazy man.

Of course, I have air tools, welder, etc ... and it's too freakin' cold for my wimpy butt to work IN the garage. (No heater yet... hmm...)

-- A
 
I don't think it's a good idea. The 14 bolt stuff definitely won't work, and I wouldn't suggest building your own axles with the equipment you have. JB weld and a tape measure doesn't work to build custom axles. :D
 
The D80 and 14 bolt have different size tubes, (D80) 4" vs (14 bolt) 3.??".


You could however use tubes from a D70HD as it has 4" tubes as well. You will have to use an HD housing though because other D70's are smaller like a 14 bolt.
 
Anyhitngs possible, I made my axle. Id get it done professionally of course. The would take the tubes out of the D80 then most likely get new tubes and put the 14b ends on it. Youd also have to get shafts made ($350pr).
 
How about getting a Dana 80 from a Dodge (these are 8-lug/35-spline) and swap your gears locker into it?
 
afroman006 said:
Why the hell would anyone cut the tubes off a D80 that had 5.13s and a detroit in it?
Click to expand...
That is what I am thinking. :screwy: Why don't you just go and get another D80 and swap carriers/gears/posi? Or if it has to be semi difficult....pull the tubes out of a spare D80 and have them pressed into your D80 housing.
 
I do have air tools, well an air gun. But I find myself just doing everything manually with a ratchet anyway...

It's actually quicker than stumbling around my mess to string out the plug in cord and air lines, then to find the air gun and then have it do basically nothing anyway.

I can break lug nuts loose quicker with one arm and spin them off faster than my sorry excuse for an air gun can.

Everything I do seems to be manual labor... ratchet, wrench, and breaker bar.

If I had a welder, I'd finish my car trailer bed; make my engine running stand, and do all sorts of stuff. Well, I lied, I do have a huge old Arc Welder that my dad got back in the 1940's or something. It scares me.

Back to the Dana 80... it's $300 for the shaved centersection with 5.13 gears and a Detroit locker. I'm weighing the work I'd need to do to make it and axle verses the cost of getting gears and a locker for one of my 14-bolts.
 
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